The women of Ravensbrück tell about interminable days spent during the time of quarantine . . . shoveling sand dunes: in a circle, under the July sun, every deportee had to move the sand from her pile to that of her neighbor to the right, in a ring without purpose or end, so that the sand returned from where it came.

The wind actually stirred the cloth on the chest of drawers, and let in a little light, so that the sharp edge of the chest of drawers was visible, running straight up, until a white shape bulged out; and a silver streak showed in the looking glass.